Gas turbine engines include a compressor section that compresses air, a combustor section that mixes the compressed air with a fuel and ignites the mixture, and a turbine section across which the resultant combustion products are expanded. The expansion of the combustion products across the turbine section drives rotation of the turbine, which in turn drives rotation of the compressor through one or more shafts. In some engines, a fan is positioned fore of a compressor inlet, and is driven to rotate by the turbine as well.
In order to analyze and maintain the fan and/or components near the fan within the gas turbine engine, the fan blades are configured such that they can be disconnected from the engine and removed without requiring the gas turbine engine to be disconnected from the wing or fully disassembled. In a conventional gas turbine engine, once disconnected from the engine, the fan blades are slid axially forward relative to an engine axis, thereby removing the blade from the engine and granting access to the blade and the surrounding components.